The consortium submitted an offer of $US 1.86bn for the contract, scoring 396 points in the technical evaluation and 460 in the economic assessment, an overall score of 856. The second place bidder was Consorcio Panametro, a Chinese-Spanish venture, which submitted the lowest bid at $US 1.67bn but only scored 770 points. Consorcio Panama II UTE, a consortium of ACS, Spain, Mexico's ICA and Graña y Montero, Peru, finished third with a bid of $US 2.08bn and a score of 737 in the evaluation.

FCC and Odebrecht have already constructed the city's first metro line, which opened in April 2014.

Line 2 will be 21km long with 16 stations and will run east from an interchange with Line 1 at San Miguelito to San Antonio, and Hospital del Este, terminating at Nuevo Tocumen. A one-station extension east to Felipillo is also proposed, although this is outside the scope of the initial construction contract.

According to the contract services should begin within 46 months of the start of construction. Initially, the line will carry 16,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphphd), although the design capacity will be 40,000 pphpd.

A fleet of 21 five-car trains will be required to operate three-minute-interval services at peak times. The train fleet will be maintained at a 12-hectare depot at the eastern end of the line.

Last year a consortium of Barcelona Metropolitan Transport (TMB), Ayesa, Spain, and Louis Berger, United States, was awarded a $US 32m five-year contract by Metro Panama to provide project management, coordination and technical assistance on Line 2.